Mulgrave shooting: How police handled a fatal family violence incident
Our police are regularly called to domestic violence incidents. But one Monday night, two decorated officers were faced with an especially horrific case. Here, they open up about how they did the job and handled the emotional impact.
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They’d been to countless family violence incidents over the years — sometimes several a day — but one Monday night two police officers were faced with a particularly horrible case.
A woman phoned 000 fearing her husband had shot their adult son in their home.
She was in the house, but couldn’t bring herself to go into the room where she had heard the shots to confirm what had happened.
From the moment they received the call, the officers went into action mode.
Emotions were put aside as they decided how to best resolve the situation, minimising the danger for everyone involved.
Sergeant Angus Waldron, who was working as divisional supervisor, organised for a series of police units, including the dog squad, air wing, and a critical incident response team, to meet paramedics near the Mulgrave home.
Senior Constable Heath Thomas, now a detective, got the alleged shooter on the phone.
“There’s no good us rushing in,” Sgt Waldron told the Leader
“You can’t help anyone if you get shot yourself.”
Sen-Constable Thomas got the offender to tell him exactly what had happened — he had killed his son with a shotgun at close range — and to peacefully surrender to police.
“Heath did a fantastic job negotiating him out of the house,” Sgt Waldron said.
“He was under arrest within 15 minutes.”
The officers then had to secure the crime scene — they only knew what the offender had told them.
Their findings confirmed his version of events.
“It’s pretty harrowing to see,” Sen-Constable Thomas said.
“As soon as you don’t need to be in there, you get out.”
The officers are used to seeing the deceased in traumatic situations, such as after road accidents and railway fatalities, and also had the emotional advantage of being able to anticipate what they’d find this time.
They try to dissociate themselves from these sights, focusing on the job.
“We can’t get too emotionally involved,” Sgt Waldron said.
“We need to be empathetic towards our victims, but we do have to be removed.”
Sen-Constable Thomas said police had to establish a “fine line” of feeling in those situations.
“You don’t want to let it affect you too much — and it will,” he said.
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“You can’t have it eat you up.
“We have to go home and sleep at night, too.”
Sgt Waldron said it helped him to deal with the emotions if he was satisfied he’d done his job well.
They looked into the family and confirmed there were no previous reports of violence — there were no “warning flags”.
Both officers, who were based at Glen Waverley police station at the time, have been awarded a Divisional Commendation for their leadership, initiative, professionalism and action on that night in December 2017.
Sen-Constable Thomas said he was proud and honoured to receive the recognition, but that all police members were “out there” doing remarkable work every day.
“Every member I’ve worked with would deserve this for something,” he said.